Wendy Wu

Village Courtyard for Orphans with Sweetcorn Wall - KunMing

20th Oct Monday - Sunny - Beijing - KunMing - Village - Back to City

The trip to Kumming Children Welfare Institute was an extra arrangement during my china visit. One day in Beijing I have received a phone call from someone of China Europe Forum Management Team, asking me to coordinate a team who will have shared interest on the issues of disabled, orphaned children from different continents. The lady who have proposed this subject is the director of Kunming Children Welfare Institute. Due to the change of Sichan travelling date, I had a chance to slot this agenda in. As I thought it is very important issue that deserves worldwide attentions. Given Kunming’s NGO development is quite far ahead of its peers in the country, which is due to the  international aid and injection of resources, ( a lot of projects supported by the World Bank located in this area mainly focus on ethnic/cultural heritage, environment, natural reserves and health. ) All those factors are quite appealing.

I got up at around 6ish in Beijing, after more than three hours air journey, I landed on Kunming WuJiaBa Airport. 昆明巫家坝机场. I had suffered from high altitude, mountain sickness. When the airplane started to descending, I felt so sick, my whole body started to sweating, and vomiting. However, once the airplane landed, I felt much better. Not having lunch, I had to rush to the villages where fostered children are allocated, accompanied by three local people ( 2 female working staff and one male driver). Dust, heavy smokes are all on its way. I was so disappointed, which doesn’t look like the Kumming I have visited more than ten years ago. - The air were crystal clear at the time. I had imagined to live here for good.

Altogether I have managed to visit families in three villages. The reason that they have decided to place the children in the countryside for various reasons: a) more space for children to play around B) safer in the villages, no busy traffic, more convenient to set up recovering center for various physical treatment for disabled children C) appropriate human resources as much that much labour work needed in the field. d) fundamentally countryside family has been approved that being able to provide sustained support in a long run. Why, I don’t know, I guess, life pressure is much lighter, and countryside family is much less materialised somehow. One mother told me in tears, her fostered daughter is so close to her as if they were akin mother-daughter. The girl doesn’t want them to introduce her to people as a fostered child. The longer she lives, the deeper love has being developed, both side they can’t face departure while the girl has to move to a town school, which means that the government has to seek another family for her. I had a chance to look at every room of the local courtyard, surrounded by loads of sweet corns. When we knocked on the family’s door, the flower shape pepper looks so amazing.

To place Chinese children in Chinese families which is a good campaigning, initiated by Robert ( Care for Children). Actually Kunming Children’s Welfare Institute has received their pilot support for three years since 2004(or so). I like this model as:
1. replaces the wall of institute of sweet corns in the local families for a love and safe environment, raising a child in a real family is so important.
2. made a connection between institute and communities. Training families on how to treat disabled children, how to communicate with children are a good ways of develop capacities of local communities.
3. make a wide social awareness on the need of children. as well as to fully utilise the social resources.
I have to say it is very creative social innovation with its own localities.

However, how to sustain the current development, how to duplicate the current model in another part of china, how to provide developed educational programme to those disabled children requires our further work with guidance from world wide specialists.

Posted on November 4th, 2008 by wendywu
Filed under: Community